WARNING: There will be graphic violence and sexual situations in this chapter. Skip it if you're triggered or just can't stomach it.
Madeline Thorn was no stranger to trouble. It was, annoyingly enough, a state that encompassed her whole life. Trouble was a living breathing being that kept in step with her. So it wasn't altogether surprising that she found herself jarred awake, wrists cuffed behind her, and sporting the mother of all headaches.
At first, she assumed, on account of the handcuffs, that she'd been arrested. For what—she didn't know. She did jaywalk a helluva lot but that was hardly a crime. If they only positioned the crosswalks in the most time/walking efficient manner then she wouldn't be forced to jaywalk.
But then all thoughts of this new bit of trouble being anything official or legal died when her vision cleared and she could finally make out the shiny metal in front of her face. Encasing her body. What the fuck. They were bars; big, thick, metal bars. Maybe for transporting bears? Something huge and strong to require that kind of hardware.
Madeline took it all in calmly. Keeping her breathing under control. Her heart was trying to pound its way out of her chest but that was just adrenaline surging in her blood. At least that was what she told herself. She'd admit to being afraid when she was in a police station and surrounded by dozens of those armed uniforms. She could lose it at that point and not a moment before.
With her terror temporarily beaten back she could concentrate on figuring out where the fuck she was. Her head throbbed and nothing connected in her mind. She'd gone to lunch. Subway. She'd had a sandwich and chips and went back to work... only she couldn't remember actually getting back to work.
Metal groaned on metal and Madeline shifted slightly to track the motion of the double doors. It was dark which was slightly alarming because the sun had still been up before her memories went black. Pine and dirt and gasoline assaulted her senses next. Which meant she was where? In a forest? With actual fucking trees and deer and shit?
Fuck.
She lived nowhere close to Bambi.
"Heya, Sweet-cheeks." Her focus snapped to the thug hanging on the open door. He was tall and muscular, with sharp features and a nasty smirk she wanted to claw off.
Bleh. Really? Sweet-cheeks? Fucker.
"She awake?" Another body moved in behind him and peered at her through the bars. This one was shorter but barrel-chested with rounder features. "Well, good mornin', Sunshine."
"She's a pretty one." The first one leered and Mad felt her skin crawl as she shifted upright and on the balls of her feet. She could only crouch in the small space allotted her but the cage door looked big enough to launch herself out of.
Escape options were not good. Her hands were cuffed behind her and she was trapped in a mother fucking cage. They were going to open the cage though. They wouldn't leave her in the van. Whatever they were planning—she figured it wasn't anything good—it started with a van but ended with her being on the outside of it.
"Yeah, she is." The second one put in leaning closer and ogling her chest. "Look at them tits."
Okay. So. Escape plan: wait for them to open the cage, attack with everything she had, run towards the woods, and then somehow survive in the wild never having camped a day in her life all the while being cuffed. Wasn't there a friendly lumberjack with an ox for a pet in the woods? Or no, that was dwarves. And fucking fictional. Fucking Disney.
"The Doc picked good this time. You gonna be good, Chickee?" The first one was closer now and messing with something, she was assuming keys, at the front of her cage. Mads concentrated on looking soft and terrified and anything but a threat.
And a threat she fucking was. Trouble may have been written in her bones but the one thing Madeline Thorn was not and never would be again was a goddamn victim.
"You be good to us and we'll be good to you." The second one sneered as the cage slowly swung open.
She may of looked like nothing but Madeline was well trained in defending herself and she would take lots of satisfaction in hurting them. As soon as the barred door swung wide enough to fit through Madeline launched through the opening at the nearest asshole. She caught him in the solar plexes. He ophed and went down with her straddling his chest. The other one moved closer in her peripherals.
Mads rolled and kicked out. There was a shriek and she felt a tug of cruel satisfaction. Obviously, she'd neutered the bastard or, at least, bruised his nuts. Ha. She rolled again and shifted her weight to get her hands maneuvered around her legs and in front of her. There was some grunting and pained moaning to the left of her but she was already on her feet and hauling ass towards the tree line.
She made it all of seven feet before she was tackled to the ground. She kissed dirt and felt some of her face stay on the hard ground when she was jerked upright.
"Where you think you're going, bitch?" His breath was hot in her ear and jabbed her in the kidneys.
Madeline grunted when a fist connected with her gut. It hurt but surprisingly didn't wind her. He gripped her elbows and pulled back until her wrists were in trouble of being cut into. She kept growling and kicking out. He had her arms but that didn't mean she was weaponless. She flung her head back and pain splintered on her skull as she connected with something hard.
There was a muffled grunt of pain and Mads could feel the kidnapper's hands loosen. She threw her body forward and she couldn't help but grin as she scrambled to her feet.
"Fucking bitch!" Broken Nose bellowed behind her.
Mads finally made it to her feet but then was immediately rugby tackled to the dirt once more. Something snapped inside her body and pain shot through her torso. Adrenaline softened the hurt though and she continued to struggle through the pain.
"I will fucking tare your cunt in half for that!" The guy she'd nailed in the nuts flipped her over and punched her in the face. More pain screamed through her face. Something snapped and she felt heat on her lips and chin.
"Fuck you! You fucking scumbag." She kicked out and tried to pry her arms loose but weight settled on her legs and the kidnapper with the bruised balls gripped her arms in a crushing hold.
She didn't stop struggling. She couldn't. She wasn't wired to stop fighting. Terror induced rage kept her going.
"Fuck this bitch." Broken Nose grunted as she kicked and fought and struggled. "Do you have her? I think she broke my fuckin' nose."
"Yeah, I got her." Bruised Nuts drew his arm back to nail her in the face again. This time it was an open palm slap that only enraged her more.
"That all you got you fuckin' pussy? Is that supposed to hurt?" Mads was biting at the air as she snarled, so enraged that she wanted to bite him. "Let me up and I'll show you how to hit you fucking scum suck."
He blinked down at her in shock and settled his weight on her chest until she couldn't breathe. Still, she tried to curse him and bite and claw at his exposed skin. Broken Nose came into view above her, blood from his broken nose dripped on to her forehead, and he sneered.
"Let her breathe—Doc said to bring her in alive." He reached down and gripped a handful of her hair as Bruised Nuts shifted so she could breathe again.
"I'm gonna fucking hurt the both of you." She growled out as soon as she pulled air into her oxygen-starved body. The hand on her scalp tightened and someone grabbed her fists before they could do more damage to her captors.
"Jesus Christ, this bitch is nuts."
She was being dragged and she had no choice but to scootch along on her ass and elbows to keep her hair from being ripped out.
"Couldn't he have picked a bitch that would've gone meekly?"
A door opened and the ground beneath her turned into cold concrete. She tried to get her feet under her but Broken Nose kept jerking her and her scalp felt like it was going to tare off her skull.
"Let me go you fucking fucks! I will fuckin' kill the both of you!" She was largely ignored but she felt better cursing them.
"She's a fuckin' librarian—they're supposed to be timid little mice." Something dinged and they were in an elevator. Madeline tried to wrench out of his grasp but Bruised Nuts stepped around her to plant his big combat boot into her gut. That winded her.
Oxygen finally came back to her after several horrible moments but then was promptly kicked right back out of her once more.
The elevator dinged again and Madeline had no choice but to be dragged by her hair. The floor changed again. Concrete scraped at her knees as she was jerked around. The lighting was better and it was cold. Like they were underground.
Fuck.
Terror raced up her spine and sent a fresh wave of adrenaline pumping through her. Instead of trying to get her hair and balance back Mads charged forward and hit the back of Broken Noses legs. He went down and let go of her hair to catch himself.
She fell on him and tried to roll away but Bruised Nuts was over her again and scowling. She kicked out and got his shin but not hard enough to fall him.
"Fuck you!" Mads made a last ditched effort to roll away from the barrel-chested bastard but he was on top of her before she could turn.
He cocked his fist back and slammed it into her face. Pain flared but Madeline was too enraged to feel it. She just kept cussing and kicking and struggling to get his weight off her. He delivered a few stinging slaps before settling his weight on her chest.
"Get the door open." He grinned when she started to turn blue.
Something creaked and she tried to draw in enough oxygen to fight. She couldn't breathe—she couldn't think. She only knew that she was fucking pissed and the only way that she was going to survive what these fuckers were going to do to her was to remain enraged. A hand gripped her hair and the weight on her chest lifted.
More metal came into her vision as she was jerked to her feet. Bars. More metal bars. Her mind wasn't connecting the dots though. She was too focused on getting the fuck away from the fuckers. She managed to rotate around enough to jab at kidneys and livers with her cuffed hands before a hard fist met with her jaw and knocked her backward.
A boot was kicked into her stomach. This time it winded her and flung her back a good foot. Pain all but suffocated her other senses and Mads had to pause in her furious attack to curl into herself and try to breathe. Another boot connected with her back and she jerked from the impact.
"Here, get out—let's lock it before the bitch goes crazy again."
Lock it?
Mads tried to pull air into her lungs as she pushed her body up to see what the hell they were talking about. Just as she shoved to her feet they stepped out of the tiny barred box and swung the barred door closed. A cage? Terror and rage sent a surge of adrenaline through her blood and a half-strangled howl of rage tore out of her throat as she hurled her body at the bars.
Both men stumbled back as her body slammed into the cage bars. Surprise shown on their faces.
"Fuck—she's a goddamn animal." Broken Nose frowned and took a step closer to the bars.
"Good, she'll fit right in then." Bruised Nuts grinned and thumbed over his shoulder.
Mads shoved away from the bars to examine her surroundings in a controlled panic. The place was bright, concrete and sterile. Her cage was a ten by ten foot cell that had a mat on the ground, a toilet on the other side, and a trickle of water running from the top of the cage into a drain cut into the concrete in the other corner. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she'd registered that there were other cages and bodies in those cages.
Terror and rage had her again as those implications sank in. They were either human traffickers or just fucking psychopaths.
Either way, she wouldn't be getting out of this alive.
No one knew or cared where she was. She'd just moved, hadn't made friends yet, and had no family to speak of. No one was going to look for her. The only person who'd give a shit was her landlord and that would only be because he'd have to move her shit when she didn't turn up to pay rent. She was dead.
Fuck.
"Welcome home, bitch." The guy with the busted nose stepped closer to the bars to leer down at her.
She was shaking with fear and rage. She was panicked but she had control of it. She could focus. After a moment of heavy breathing, Mads decided it was time to go another route with her rage.
She was caught and held. The chance of her escaping was nil now that she was in a cage underground. She wasn't getting out of this alive but she sure as fuck was going to cause as much damage as she could before she went—hell, maybe it would enrage them enough to just kill her right off without all the torture and pain or whatever the fuck they were going to do to her.
Madeline moved to the door again, let her shoulders sag and her legs give out from under her. She was small and female and most guys underestimated her just for that. She lowered her head and made pitiful sniffling noises. Maybe they were stupid enough to forget that she'd hurt them.
"Please." Her voice cracked and Mads tried to channel tears into her eyes. "Please, let me go."
"Heh." That was snorted and she heard them take steps closer to her cage. "Bitch has changed her tone now."
"Please," Mads felt victory as tears pooled in her eyes and she looked up, trying to look as pathetic as possible. "Please—I'll do anything you want—just let me go."
They smirked. Bruised Nuts crouched to her level and reached between the bars to grip a handful of her hair. Huh. Maybe they were that stupid.
"How 'bout you put that pretty little mouth to good use and suck my cock and I'll think about lettin' you go." His hand left her hair when she only blinked and nodded like an idiot. His hand trailed down to her chin and dug into her cheeks to open her mouth.
His other hand was busy freeing his cock from his pants. Madeline nodded pathetically again trying not to look like she was planning anything. Soft and innocent. Madeline reached through the bars slowly to show that she wasn't a threat. Surprise and malicious glee showed on the idiots face when she reached for his pants. The cuffs kept her from reaching his dick so the bastard shifted closer.
"There's a good bitch—" His sentence cut off with a high pitched scream as she clutched and twisted his half-hard dick. She jerked her hand and he just kept screaming.
"Hey!" Broken Nose yelled and reached into the cage to pry her off the other one's nuts.
Madeline released her hold on the assholes dick and latched onto Broken Nose's arm. She used her weight to throw him off balance and he hit the bars with a groan. She kept the arm in her hold as she stood and then bodyslammed it backward with all of her strength. Something cracked and the guy howled in pain before he wrenched his body out of the cage and away from her.
Both men were crumpled on the ground, out of her reach, cradling bits of themselves.
"Oh come on you pussies—you're acting like that hurt." She taunted and watched
Bruised Nuts rock back and forth holding himself as Broken Nose shoved up with his working arm and spun to growl at her. His good hand went down to his holster and he gripped his gun.
"You broke my fuckin' arm!" Pain laced his voice and he hissed as he pointed the gun at her chest.
"Did I? Oh shucks, that must really hurt." Mads mocked him and he snarled at her. She didn't want to get shot and die but the alternative, being raped and sold into human trafficking, was too horrible to actually consider.
"Shoot the bitch, Sid." Bruised Nuts keened from his position on the ground.
"Yeah, Sid, shoot me."
"Stop!" A new voice entered the fray and Broken Nose wheeled around.
The gun was no longer on her. She wasn't sure how she felt about that. She liked breathing. She really did.
"This one's not worth the trouble, Sir! She broke my fuckin' arm and my nose and Sid's dick is probably hanging on by a thread."
"Do not kill her. Even if she taunts you and she will." The voice finally became a body and Mads had to contain her shriek of rage. It came out as a growl as the man came level with her cage. "We need her alive—I told you she'd be tough to bring in—you're the idiots thinkin' with your dicks instead of your brains."
"But she—"
"She is tough. She's a survivor and exactly what we need with these animals." Richard Moneith studied her and Mads couldn't help but growl again.
Richard Moneith. Upstanding citizen. Her ex-therapist. Soup kitchen worker. And an all around shit-stick apparently.
"What the fuck is this, Dick?" Her voice was rough with all the screaming and growling she'd been doing. He flinched at his nickname and she felt a niggle of satisfaction.
"Welcome to Bunker 14." Dick spread his arms and smiled widely. "You are here as my new guinea pig. I'm hoping you'll hold up where other women haven't."
Terror kept her frozen. Guinea pig? That didn't sound good. What the fuck did that even mean?
"Get up. Go clean yourselves up." Dick turned his attention on the moaning piles of shit. "Have Wilkerson look at that." He moved with the men, assisting Bruised Nuts. "Didn't I tell you to keep her sedated?"
"She's a fuckin' Librarian—you didn't tell us she was a fuckin' animal." The door closed and cut off any reply.
Madeline took a moment to breathe it all in. Cuffed. Caged. Underground. Dick. Guinea Pig. Other women didn't survive.
Great.
Fucking fantastic.
